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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26639116">pins and proposals</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhuzhubi/pseuds/zhuzhubi'>zhuzhubi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Criminal Minds (US TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cute, F/M, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Marriage Proposal, bowling, spencer reid is an adorable human</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:36:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,817</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26639116</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhuzhubi/pseuds/zhuzhubi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>reader loves bowling and spencer is planning to propose</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Spencer Reid/Original Character(s), Spencer Reid/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>pins and proposals</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>also on tumblr @zhuzhubii :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You’ve worked together at the BAU for almost two years when Spencer asks you out for the first time - he slides into the seat beside you on the plane after a case (one that went well), nervously running his hands over his thighs as he asks, “Would you…want to come with me to the Smithsonian this weekend?”</p>
<p>You just blink back at him at first, so surprised that you don’t realize an awkward amount of time has passed and he’s still waiting for a response, growing more flustered by the second -</p>
<p>“It’s just that they have this new exhibit I’ve been wanting to see, and I thought you might like it?” he backtracks, looking everywhere but your face as his face flushes with the embarrassment of (perceived) rejection, “Y-you don’t have to come if you don’t want to, of course - I-I just thought I’d offer because -”</p>
<p>“Yeah that sounds great!” you interrupt him, a blush of your own creeping up your cheeks.</p>
<p>He keeps talking as if you’ve rejected him, his words all coming out in a rush as he says, “That’s okay, I knew it was a long-shot anyway. I-I hope this doesn’t make things awkward between us, I don’t want you to feel like I’m pressuring you or anything -”</p>
<p>“Spencer,” you interrupt him once again - he finally glances back over at you, swallowing nervously as he waits for you to continue, “I’d love to go with you!”</p>
<p>“R-really?” he stutters out, his jaw dropping adorably.</p>
<p>“It’s a date,” you reply and his face lights up - he’s practically vibrating in his seat as his face breaks out into a huge grin.</p>
<p>“It’s a <em>date!</em>” he mumbles to himself in a barely-there voice and you smile.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>You make it official after one month and move in together after fourteen - honestly though? You’ve known that Spencer is <em>your person</em> since that very first date, since you spent the whole day talking to him and really getting to know him outside of work and without the influence of you other co-workers. </p>
<p>And yes, you don’t always agree. And yes, it’s sometimes hard dating someone you work with. But you’d never trade it for anything else.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Bowling is your idea the first time - you’re lazing around his apartment one Saturday itching to get out and do something when the idea hits you. Spencer protests at first, complaining that he’s no good at sports, but he sees the hopeful grin tugging at your lips and quickly gives in. </p>
<p>The bowling alley is small and only has a few lanes, but you prefer it that way - Spencer never says anything about it, but you know he’s uncomfortable with crowds. As it is, he’s a little reluctant once he realizes he has to rent shoes and starts on a nervous tangent about foot fungus and bacteria as he stares down the pair you grabbed for him, wrinkling his nose at the smell before he’s even gotten close enough to actually smell them. </p>
<p>You just hand him a travel bottle of Lysol and a pair of extra thick socks and bite back a smile as he blinks down at them, turning them over in his hands as if it’s taking him a moment to process what he’s holding. Once he finally does, a chuckle bubbles in his chest - he looks between you and your ‘protect Spencer from Athlete’s foot’ supplies with a grin. He swiftly uncaps the Lysol and sprays a generous amount inside of the shoes before tugging on the extra pair of socks and sliding his feet inside - he still makes a  bit of a displeased face, but it’s really more for laughs than anything else.</p>
<p>Spencer’s just as amazingly terrible at bowling as you knew he would be - he peers down the lane before every turn, mumbling about velocity and friction and angle of impact, before casting the ball with clumsy hands and pouting when it only knocks over a few pins (or rolls into the gutter). He makes exactly one strike and is so overjoyed at his success that he practically leaps back over to you and spins you around, all the while excitedly babbling, “I did it, I did it! Did you see that, (y/n)? Look, I did it!”</p>
<p>It’s then that you think <em>bowling with Spencer is one of the best ideas I’ve ever had.</em></p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Visiting the bowling alley and playing a few rounds becomes your thing - the thing you two like to do as a couple whenever you get the chance (between cases and, well, just <em>general exhaustion</em> from work, it’s hard to make it as often as you’d like). You become friendly with all the employees and familiar with all the lanes. Spencer decides that lane four is his favorite, but you’re partial to lane two - you decide to alternate between them and playfully bicker over which one is better and who’s turn it is and <em>hey, I always lose when we play in this lane!</em></p>
<p>Spencer sneaks out of bed one morning and comes back with a package, watching intently as you open it and pull out two pairs of new bowling shoes - he’s so proud of himself for ‘surprising you’ that you can’t bear to tell him that he left his dinosaur of a laptop open after he ordered then, and so you already knew about it. You pull him in for a kiss and say, “I love them,” and he smiles, pulling you into a kiss and thumbing over your jaw.</p>
<p>“You know, I think I’m gonna miss the smell of Lysol,” he mumbles after a while, pulling back just barely so that his lips tickle yours as he says it.</p>
<p>And you laugh because it’s such a him thing to say, kissing him again before pulling him to his feet - you slip on your new shoes and start dancing around the apartment, grinning when he joins you, pulling you into his arms and knocking your bowling shoe-clad feet together. </p>
<p>…</p>
<p>The case was long and hard and just…completely and utterly taxing, as they sometimes (too often) are. </p>
<p>And yes - in the end someone’s sudden insight (you’re pretty sure it was Spencer’s, but honestly? You’re so tired it could have been yours and you wouldn’t know for sure) led to the unsub’s capture. And yes - your interrogation skills eventually drew out a full confession. But three more victims had to die before you got there, and you had to suck up to arguably the most cocky bastard of an unsub you’ve ever had the misfortune of talking to for hours before you finally got it out of him.</p>
<p>So to say that you’re tired is an understatement. It’s not even that you haven’t slept - by the time the cases was wrapped up it was too late for the jet to take off, so you all had an extra night in the hotel. And you napped for a good couple hours on the plane as well - it’s more of an emotional tiredness, a sense of <em>it feels like we lose even when we win.</em></p>
<p>It’s a Saturday, so all you have to do before finally heading home is complete a few time-sensitive forms that can’t wait until Monday morning. By the time you’re finished and Spencer’s herding you out the door and onto the Metro, you just want to curl up on the couch with him and eat popcorn and watch TV. He finds a pair of seats for you two, and you rest your head on his shoulder as soon as he sits down next to you, closing your eyes as he runs his fingers through your hair and hums softly into your ear.</p>
<p>Eventually, he gently tugs you to your feet and leads you up the stairs, guiding you down the sidewalk and keeping you pulled close to his side. You’re so out of it that it takes until you’re literally walking into the bowling alley for you to notice that he hasn’t taken you home - you start to protest, saying, “Spencer, I’m tired - can’t we just go home?”</p>
<p>His expression holds no expectations when he replies, “Yeah, of course. I just thought maybe it’d be nice to do something fun after…all that.”</p>
<p>You’re still a little wary, but it <em>does </em>sound like a good idea…you give him a little nod and relent, mumbling, “Maybe just one round, okay?”</p>
<p>He bursts into a grin, practically bouncing on his feet as he steps up the counter to pay - he balks and wrinkles his nose when he realizes that since you didn’t come from home, neither of you have your shoes. Which means he’ll have to rent some, which means he’ll have to put his feet into a yucky place that probably has fungus -</p>
<p>You hand him a little travel bottle of Lysol and he laughs, his grin returning as he sprays it into his rental shoes. You can’t help but join him, taking the bottle from his hands one he’s finished with it and spraying some into your own shoes - just for fun. He makes no complaints about playing in your favorite lane and bites back a teasing grin once the round is finished and you tentatively suggest playing another. </p>
<p>And maybe the unfamiliar shoes are giving you blisters. And maybe all of the horrible feelings bred by the case will come creeping back when you’re lying in bed at night. But right now it’s nice to take a break. Right now you’re letting out a loud cheer because you just scored your third strike in a row and Spencer is running up to you and spinning you around and cheering with you, pressing a joyful kiss to your lips and not caring that the other patrons are staring. </p>
<p>It’s right there on that day, when you’re overjoyed about scoring a turkey after that horrible awful case, that Spencer first thinks one day, <em>I’m gonna marry them.</em></p>
<p>…</p>
<p>You can’t quite pinpoint exactly when it started, but Spencer has had this <em>squirrely</em> air about him recently - a few weeks ago you went out to lunch with Penelope and JJ and when you came back, Spencer was practically running around the apartment almost as if he was…looking for something? Anyway, he looked like a deer in the headlights as soon as he noticed you, blinking at you with wide eyes and <em>very obviously</em> hiding something behind his back. </p>
<p>You pointed it out to him, inquiring, “What’s that behind your back?” stifling laughter when his lips pulled into his ‘frog face’ (as you like to call it).</p>
<p>His only response was to frantically deny it, shaking his head and slowly backing towards the bedroom while stuttering out, “What? I-I’m not hiding anything behind my back! You, um, you’re just - I, uhhh…”</p>
<p>You gave him a look, raising your eyebrows at him and chuckling out a, “If you say so…,” before leaving him to his devices (coyly watching him out of the corner of your eye as he slipped into the bedroom and emerged almost ten minutes later without whatever he was hiding)</p>
<p>Anyway, you still can’t for the life of you figure out what exactly it is that he’s been hiding - he’s doing a much better job than he did with the bowling shoes. You’ve even considered searching the bedroom for the <em>whatever-it-was</em>, but think better of it in the end - as much as your curiosity is killing you, you refuse to invade his privacy like that.</p>
<p>So you resign yourself to Spencer’s newfound squirreliness - though it’s really more adorable than anything else, so ‘resign’ is a strong word. He’s just as loving as ever - actually, maybe even a little <em>more</em> than usual. He’s become super cuddly at night and has been trying to cook for you (with<em> trying </em>being the operative word - Spencer’s good at many things, but cooking is decidedly not one of them)</p>
<p>You catch him staring at your hands one day while you’re reading together on the couch and think <em>maybe he’s going to…?</em> before shaking the thought out of your mind - you’d <em>know</em> if he was planning to propose to you, wouldn’t you?</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>The only thing unusual about this Saturday is that Spencer’s a little more jittery than normal. Well, and that he’s taking almost twice as long to get ready. And that he won’t let you carry your own bag. And that he wants to drive to the bowling alley rather than take the Metro…actually, <em>many</em> things are unusual about this Saturday - you’re just not sure exactly why.</p>
<p>Spencer opens the car door for you and gives you a nervous smile as he leads you inside, his palm trembling and a little sweaty under yours. You notice immediately that the entire team is there, waiting patiently at lane two, peering over at you and Spencer as you walk through the doors. You narrow your eyes at them suspiciously - it’s not that you mind them being here, per se, rather bowling has always been a <em>Spencer-and-(y/n)</em> activity and none of them have ever tagged along before.</p>
<p>You tap Spencer on the shoulder and squint at him too, asking, “What’s everyone doing here?” as he leads you down the stairs and sits you down, pulling your shoes out of his bag and neatly arranging them on the floor in front of you - he almost looks like he’s about to kneel and put them on for you before you reach down to do it yourself, gesturing for him to sit beside you and slip on his own.</p>
<p>Spencer’s too flustered to come up with an answer for that, instead stuttering out, “Well, um, they…uh -”</p>
<p>Garcia interrupts him with, “You two bowl by yourselves all the time - we just had to know what all the fuss is about!” and Spencer lets out a sigh of relief and a nervous chuckle, humming a little, “Uh huh,” and nodding his fluffy head.</p>
<p>You decide not to press it, instead rising to your feet and glancing over them all, playfully announcing, “Well in that case, get ready to lose!” </p>
<p>And with that, all the weirdness is pushed to the wayside in favor of friendly competition - Morgan moans about the fact that Spencer is ahead of him, to which you fire back, “Awe, is someone jealous?” (for his part, Spencer only says, “Bowling is more a game of skill than athleticism,” but where’s the fun in being logical?)</p>
<p>It finally happens at the end of the second game, when you’ve just scored the strike that secures your victory. You throw your arms in the air and let out an excited cheer, spinning around with a triumphant grin and getting ready to gloat about your superior skills -</p>
<p>Spencer’s kneeling on the floor and holding out a little velvet box with a ring, caught between joy and terror as he gives you a shaky grin. In the back of your mind, you register the rest of the team standing behind him with bated breath, biting back smiles and looking on in anticipation - you’re vaguely aware of their presence, but it’s not what matters. What matters is the man before you, locking eyes with you through his nervousness, stumbling over his words as he tries to give a speech -</p>
<p>“(y/n), there are…so many things that I could say, but -”</p>
<p>“Yes!” you exclaim, slapping your hands over your mouth with a gasp as you blink away the wateriness building in your eyes.</p>
<p>“Huh?” Spencer replies intelligently, blinking up at you in surprise as he tries to process your preemptive acceptance.</p>
<p>“Yes, you dummy!” you repeat, reaching over and pulling him to his feet, thumbing over his cheeks as you smile so wide it almost hurts.</p>
<p>“B-but…,” he sputters, glancing between you and the ring as his brow furrows a little, “I-I didn’t get to finish my speech…”</p>
<p>“Ah, I’m sorry!” you reply, a familiar heat building in your own cheeks, “Did you want to finish it…?”</p>
<p>He nervously glances behind himself at all the onlookers - other than your team, it seems like everyone in the bowling alley is watching - and thinks better of it, “Uhh…not really. I mean, uh…maybe later, when there aren’t so many people watching -” and then he interrupts himself with, “Oh! I should probably actually ask you, at least…”</p>
<p>He gulps, his face going bright red as he opens and closes his mouth a few times, trying to muster up the courage to get the words out - you nod at him encouragingly, letting him take his time and soothing your fingers over his jaw every time he sucks in a shaky breath. </p>
<p>“W-will you…(y/n), will you marry me?”</p>
<p>And you let out a laugh that’s wet with happy tears, pressing a kiss into his cheek and leaving your lips to brush against him as you give your answer -</p>
<p>“Of course I will, Spencer Reid.”</p>
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